Levon Helm Studios regular Marco Benevento made the short trek from his creative home base in Woodstock, NY to the barn-turned-concert venue owned by the late The Band drummer for a weekend run of concerts. The two-night engagement on Friday and Saturday celebrated the release of the Joe Russo’s Almost Dead keyboardist’s new album, Barn Burner: Live At Levon’s, recorded at the very same venue.
The sold-out, no-repeat two-night run saw Marco and his eponymous trio of bassist Karina Ryman and drummer Chris Corsico explore the bandleader’s extensive discography, stretching back to his 2008 debut Invisible Boy. What better place for this journey of artistic self-examination than Woodstock, where the keyboardist has built a life, a studio, and a creative community highlighted by his boutique festival, Follow The Arrow—set to return for its third year this summer.
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In addition to exploring his catalog, Benevento also honored some of his influences. Friday’s show came to a powerful crescendo with an encore of “Limbs Of A Pine”, which wound through Harry Nilsson‘s “Jump Into The Fire” before an ultimate reprisal of “Limbs” closed out the concert. On night two, Benevento tipped his cap—metaphorically speaking, as he seems to have eschewed his once-trademark top hat from his stage getup—to the venue’s former owner with The Band’s “This Wheels On Fire” in the second set. Helping him on the cover was solo artist Sam Evian, who kicked off a procession of special guests.
Saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Cochema and in-demand session drummer Ryan Jewell came out to join Evian, Benevento, and his band on the jazz classic “Freedom Jazz Dance”—covered by everyone from Miles Davis to The String Cheese Incident. After the set ended with Benevento’s “Humanz”, Marco couldn’t shake his guests as they all returned for J.J. Cale classic “Call Me The Breeze”. Finally bidding farewell to Evian, Cohema, and Jewell, Marco brought out his wife Katie for a lovely duet of John Lennon‘s proto-“Jealous Guy” composition “Child Of Nature” before the core trio closed out the evening and the run with a fitting “At The Show”.
Check out photos of the Marco Benevento Barn Burner release party at Levon Helm Studios courtesy of Bahram Foroughi along with fan-shot videos by themeboudin. Scroll down to see the setlists at the end of Benevento’s Instagram post. The band has a brief run of dates through the Northeast from April 9th–13th up next. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on Marco’s website. Barn Burner: Live At Levon’s is out now across streaming services and available on vinyl here.
Marco Benevento, Georgia — “You Know I’m No Good” (Amy Winehouse) — 3/30/24
Marco Benevento — “Benny And The Jets” (Elton John) — 3/30/24
Marco Benevento, Sam Evian — “This Wheels On Fire” (The Band) — 3/30/24
Marco Benevento — Barn Burner: Live At Levon’s
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